


in a body cast of glass (carrying all the weight)

by CycloneRachel



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Mentioned other characters - Freeform, One Shot, Season/Series 05 Spoilers, Secrets, Supergirl (TV 2015) Season 5, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24887140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: prompt from mistyautumn: "A prompt idea... Brainy coming across the footage of Eve killing Jeremiah :o"
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	in a body cast of glass (carrying all the weight)

**Author's Note:**

> wooo! finally got another one-shot (with a pretentious-ass title) done!  
> And I'm not sure how much of it really makes sense, but I hope it's good  
> also Brainy deserved to be able to outsmart Lex and keep that victory, thanks

Querl had not known Jeremiah Danvers.

The only information he had on him, in fact, came from the files that the DEO had on him- that he read for the first time soon after he came to the twenty-first century, as part of his education on what Supergirl had done thus far in her career as a superhero.

(He’d read all of the files- encompassing the entire history of the DEO up to that point- but he was particularly interested in Supergirl’s first year, especially her battles with Astra and Non, as well as with one of his own ancestors. And they were especially enlightening when dealing with Winn, who’d been responsible for taking Indigo- or Brainiac 8- down when he first encountered her.

He remembered that, and stored such a fact for later.

But he had also paid attention to Jeremiah, Kara and Alex’s father- the man who had joined Cadmus, partnered with Lillian Luthor to keep his daughters safe.

That could only go so far, however, and once they had ended up in Lillian’s crosshairs anyway, he chose to leave Cadmus, attempting to atone for his mistakes in this post-Crisis universe.

Querl expected that Jeremiah would have lived a long life, given that he had already survived by himself for close to three years. Though he was getting older, he was still also technologically enhanced, and if Querl’s own kind was any indication… any kind of implants would go a long way to helping him with any problems he might encounter.

Which was why it was so unusual, to him at least, when he found out that Jeremiah had suddenly passed away.

Kara and Alex’s mother, Eliza, had called Alex first- and Alex had told J’onn, and then Kara, who’d told first Querl and then Nia.

Eliza was told it was of natural causes. Cardiac arrest, especially for a man his age, was easy enough to believe. Such a death was tragic to hear about, for all of the Danvers family members- it affected Alex especially so deeply that he later learned she went into Obsidian Platinum to distract herself from it. After all, Supergirl couldn’t have prevented it, however much she wanted to. Kara hadn’t even known where he was since he’d left Cadmus.

Querl was quiet, as he sat beside J’onn in his car, considering everything. He kept his suspicions to himself- it wasn’t his place to speak of them at this time, not when Kara and J’onn were mourning, and even Nia was saddened, sitting in the back seat beside Kara and likely thinking of her own mother.

But his mind was on those facts, as well as another- Lex’s reaction to his news, when he told him he was going to attend Jeremiah’s funeral in Midvale, and would have to do his work remotely.

Lex, instead of looking upset, hadn’t even tried to display any emotions of the sort at all. Instead he looked as though he had expected it, and waved Querl away, telling him to go. As though he didn’t care that his still-newly appointed DEO director was leaving temporarily, even though it was, ostensibly, a loss.

And such a reaction, albeit expected from someone with as little empathy as Lex Luthor, made Querl even more suspicious of him than he already had been. It was a move worthy of Lex, of course- Querl imagined the events as though they were on a chessboard, and killing Jeremiah was exactly what he would do to manipulate the Danvers sisters, one or both of them, into a position that would make them vulnerable to be eliminated.

He would just have to prove- without Lex’s knowledge- that he was responsible for such a thing.

But could he tell Kara and Alex, while avoiding Lex’s suspicions of him? Would he even be able to bring himself to do it, knowing that they may not even believe he was telling the truth? If he did, how soon would Lex find out, and how much of a punishment would he receive afterwards?

(Would they trust anything Querl said, since he had pushed them away, and they hadn’t tried to reach out to him afterwards?)

He would have to figure that out for himself.

But, as he found out once he had made sure Lex wouldn’t know he was spying on his computer while his boss was absent… it hadn’t entirely been Lex’s fault.

Rather, Eve Tessmacher had killed Jeremiah, making it look like an accident, covering it up so that such a story would be told to Eliza Danvers.

And he was now stuck with the burden of knowing.

It was heavy, the knowledge that he couldn’t give to anyone yet. He felt as though he were carrying many burdens of the sort, and if he could not defeat Leviathan and Lex in time, they would be released for him, destroying him before he could let them go.

Querl’s kind was known for bottling- worlds, continents, countries, cities. Anything they believed would contain valuable knowledge, that they could hoard for themselves, aware that such a privilege was exclusive to them and them alone. And nobody had gone further with it than those bearing the Dox family name.

They had taken pride in it, viewing it as something to be envied instead of the ultimate robbery. Querl had at first not understood how terrible the practice of bottling worlds was, but he learned quickly- and once he did, the inhibitors becoming a painful reminder of it, he swore to never do such a thing. Whatever knowledge he wanted, he would get through other means, and he wouldn’t keep it for himself.

He knew that his ancestors would consider this- serving Lex Luthor, keeping secrets, having access to knowledge Supergirl and the rest of his friends lacked- an honor, even if they were working for someone of a lower intellect than any of them. But for him, it felt as though he were being bottled, along with all the things he was keeping from everyone, and as time ran out, this proverbial bottle was getting closer and closer to being sealed up completely, giving him no hope of escape.

(Unless… unless he could use such a metaphor to his advantage, taking the literal practice and turning it against his enemies, people who truly deserved it.

But that would have to wait.)


End file.
